This is one i've been at for ages through multiple computers, sound cards, etc
and for various reasons. But this is the most concise and crystalline I think i can describe it

How can I record, in an application-independent way , the audio that is being piped from the system to a recording application (whether it's DAW , multitrack editor, etc) ?
I've tried many many many things. IT is a little trickier with my current set-up as I'm using an auxiliary audio card (UAD apollo twin Duo USB) which it appears is not the best at.. well, anything outside of the box or the UA metaverse. I've had limited success using VOICEMEEEEEETR (the free version as well as the QA ) But it is offensively clunky and sloppy. it claims some error about a sound card or drivers or some shit but works as intended for the most part. BUt it doesn't, though.
for that, it seems you have to have the (ectopic, handicapped ) SYstray process running int he background. Handy, at least, is that it has a VU meter, so you can see if you're doing anything. And then select that process as the primary output discretely from whichever task you're trying to record. aND THEN WITHIN WHATEVER YOU'RE USING TO RECORD, SET THE INPUT TO VOICEMEEEETER'S "virtualized input which is looping back the app's audio.
Cumbersome and inconsistent. Right? Maybe i'm missing something.
So, i've also tried things like VB cable which may be a good alternative, but once installed seems ubiquitously available as an input and is listed similiarly to the VM loopback as a device.
I've tried JACK, which is, to me, inscrutable but probably very powerful.
VAC etc.
Is ther a de facto solution to this age-old issue? Simple and lightweight? What is the best option, other than just using adapters to plug the headphone jack into one of the lines?
I used to work for a semiconductor company testing onboard soundcards for OEMs, and I remember at one point all of them tried to sneakily expunge "Stereo mix" from the inputs by default. It was easily solved by a quick registry edit, which I snuck into multiple builds of realtek, etc driver builds and audio endpoint software packages. LOL. You're welcome.
and also THanks

 

You can try Odeus Asio Link Pro (ASIO router).
Sorry, not easy at first sight and of course you need an ASIO driver to hook (as for VoiceM), but extremely powerful once you get used to and doesn't have the terrible latency that instead I verified on VoiceM.
No need of virtual cables.

Basically is abandonware now so it's "full" version.

If you decide to install it, tick 16 channels.

 

Don´t own one, but this might help you. Apollo Twin loopback feature? | UAD, Apollo, and LUNA Forums (uadforum.com)
I´ve always done it internally in soundcard(ESI Uno, UMC1810 and RME Digiface)

 

For some reason, my mind goes completely dead whenever anything about "console (32-bit)"
I've tousled with that thing for a long long long time... I bought the appolling ff on guitar center's junkyard . My first impression was that The card came with, like, 20 of the plugins still on the thing and freely available. was like flipping through vsts. and there was a bunch of stuff I had already had VSTs of between like Shadow Hills' Mastering compressor .. manbox.. other things I didn't care about then really and don't even now. no midi at all.it was like But. I .. everyone seemed to say they sound amazing . it has a fanciness (i have the USB FWIW) I had no idea what happened, but as a veteran (quality) analyst suspected something along those lines. BUt I I just bought it. albeit second-hand. but i could use the plugins all I wanted for weeks! I contacted tech support who tried to explain the system , . I should have suspected some fuckery when I saw the fact that the main software interface has sn ecommerce platform hard embedded into it .